Well, in my last post I talked about getting scoped to check for fistulas, fissures etc... Tuesday morning came and I was STARVING after being on fluids all day Monday.
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| Ready to go. A simple scope, right? |
I couldn't wait to eat after my scope. It's always one of my favorite meals because you realize how great food is after spending two days on chicken broth.
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| My view of the lights in the OR. Just hanging out, waiting. |
Well, imagine my surprise(horror) when I woke up from anesthesia in absolute, excruciating pain and in tears. Waking up crying isn't exactly normal. I was there alone b/c I've had so many scopes that it is nothing to me, so I had told Hubs to leave and just head back when they call that I'm in recovery. I was my surgeon's last procedure before he left to have his office hours and was still out when he checked in before he left. So in my fog, I heard the nurse say something about surgery, she handed me a Lortab and then said she was calling my surgeon. I was just laying there crying... Not to be completely ridiculous but it felt like someone drove a car up my ass. After 20 minutes the Lortab had done nothing. At that point I was wishing for post delivery pain from having my kids. Lovely. So I vaguely hear her on the phone. She returned like an angel with a push of Demerol for my IV, so within 5 seconds I was a happy and completely stoned girl. Hubs shows up and talks to my surgeon. He discovered a few issues while doing the scope. Ulcers and inflammation in the 1cm of what's left of my rectum and anal fistulas. Now, if you were a good student and googled 'fistulas' like I said, you would have found out that they are essentially an infection that burrows and fills with pus below the surface. As you can imagine, pockets of that can cause the extreme pain I had been dealing with for MONTHS. Sexy, I know... settle down!! I am one lucky bitch!!
So the only way to treat these disgusting things is to open them up and clean them out and let them drain. Antibiotics don't work. So, yeah. I woke up to that having been done to my ass. And he took a bunch of biopsies as well because of the inflammation. I'm actually kinda thankful he just did it while he had me there. The procedure cost $1200 so having had to go back and pay that again would have pissed me off. As it is I feel like someone should have paid ME for having to go through that shit. Just disgusting. I mean, prior to me getting sick I never even knew this kind of crap existed for people. I suppose that's why I talk about it.
Needless to say, my Norcos have been my best friend since Wednesday. Tuesday I was out for the count for the rest of the day which I'm used to. Anesthesia has always done that which I don't mind.
It has been pretty painful this week. Walking around is nearly impossible. Squatting, sitting... I can't lift for another week while this crap heals. I'm afraid to eat because you can imagine how fun going to the bathroom is with all that nonsense going on... so it's been pretty cool. Not at all.
So yeah, the last few weeks have really sucked. Last night I got the coolest message from a friend I haven't seen in years... He said my blog was like me- "honest and awesome". I have to say, that made my night. It's funny how you may think someone may not even consider you at all...and then have them say something so great like that. I don't know. It was just pretty cool. So, to my friend, thank you for that. =)
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| Trying to make recovery look easy. |
I'm hoping the next few days has the pain tapering off. I see my Surgeon on the 3rd so I will get all my biopsy results back. He's assuming it will be Proctitis and not Crohn's like we feared. I'm just preparing for the worst anyway. It tends to make the reality easier. Regardless, this means I will be going on meds of some type. Possibly a steroid. None of that is making me happy because the whole reason I went with getting gutted was to avoid pumping myself full of meds forever. <sigh> Such complete bullshit. Like really, that 1cm has to give me trouble after getting over 5 feet of guts removed. Ridiculous. Sneaky disease. I'm still going to shut you down. It might take me another 5 years. Whatever. But I'm going to win. I always win. ;-)
Thanks for reading... go out and run around and eat a bunch of food, and drink some beer for me, ok? Sweet! I appreciate it.
Well, in my last post I talked about getting scoped to check for fistulas, fissures etc... Tuesday morning came and I was STARVING after being on fluids all day Monday.
|
| Ready to go. A simple scope, right? |
I couldn't wait to eat after my scope. It's always one of my favorite meals because you realize how great food is after spending two days on chicken broth.
|
| My view of the lights in the OR. Just hanging out, waiting. |
Well, imagine my surprise(horror) when I woke up from anesthesia in absolute, excruciating pain and in tears. Waking up crying isn't exactly normal. I was there alone b/c I've had so many scopes that it is nothing to me, so I had told Hubs to leave and just head back when they call that I'm in recovery. I was my surgeon's last procedure before he left to have his office hours and was still out when he checked in before he left. So in my fog, I heard the nurse say something about surgery, she handed me a Lortab and then said she was calling my surgeon. I was just laying there crying... Not to be completely ridiculous but it felt like someone drove a car up my ass. After 20 minutes the Lortab had done nothing. At that point I was wishing for post delivery pain from having my kids. Lovely. So I vaguely hear her on the phone. She returned like an angel with a push of Demerol for my IV, so within 5 seconds I was a happy and completely stoned girl. Hubs shows up and talks to my surgeon. He discovered a few issues while doing the scope. Ulcers and inflammation in the 1cm of what's left of my rectum and anal fistulas. Now, if you were a good student and googled 'fistulas' like I said, you would have found out that they are essentially an infection that burrows and fills with pus below the surface. As you can imagine, pockets of that can cause the extreme pain I had been dealing with for MONTHS. Sexy, I know... settle down!! I am one lucky bitch!!
So the only way to treat these disgusting things is to open them up and clean them out and let them drain. Antibiotics don't work. So, yeah. I woke up to that having been done to my ass. And he took a bunch of biopsies as well because of the inflammation. I'm actually kinda thankful he just did it while he had me there. The procedure cost $1200 so having had to go back and pay that again would have pissed me off. As it is I feel like someone should have paid ME for having to go through that shit. Just disgusting. I mean, prior to me getting sick I never even knew this kind of crap existed for people. I suppose that's why I talk about it.
Needless to say, my Norcos have been my best friend since Wednesday. Tuesday I was out for the count for the rest of the day which I'm used to. Anesthesia has always done that which I don't mind.
It has been pretty painful this week. Walking around is nearly impossible. Squatting, sitting... I can't lift for another week while this crap heals. I'm afraid to eat because you can imagine how fun going to the bathroom is with all that nonsense going on... so it's been pretty cool. Not at all.
So yeah, the last few weeks have really sucked. Last night I got the coolest message from a friend I haven't seen in years... He said my blog was like me- "honest and awesome". I have to say, that made my night. It's funny how you may think someone may not even consider you at all...and then have them say something so great like that. I don't know. It was just pretty cool. So, to my friend, thank you for that. =)
|
| Trying to make recovery look easy. |
I'm hoping the next few days has the pain tapering off. I see my Surgeon on the 3rd so I will get all my biopsy results back. He's assuming it will be Proctitis and not Crohn's like we feared. I'm just preparing for the worst anyway. It tends to make the reality easier. Regardless, this means I will be going on meds of some type. Possibly a steroid. None of that is making me happy because the whole reason I went with getting gutted was to avoid pumping myself full of meds forever. <sigh> Such complete bullshit. Like really, that 1cm has to give me trouble after getting over 5 feet of guts removed. Ridiculous. Sneaky disease. I'm still going to shut you down. It might take me another 5 years. Whatever. But I'm going to win. I always win. ;-)
Thanks for reading... go out and run around and eat a bunch of food, and drink some beer for me, ok? Sweet! I appreciate it.
I feel for you sister. I have chronic cuffitis - UC. They lied to us when they said the surgery was going to cure us. I can't imagine how your fistulas feel at all. Are they also in the cuff area? My GI is at the Mayo Clinic and last week we were discussing possible surgical solutions for chronic cuffitis as after two and a half years I need a better quality of life. I look forward to hearing about your recovery and hope it is quick!
ReplyDeleteHey there...Thanks for reading! My surgeon hasn't said cuffitis specifically, probably because my anus is involved so he's referenced Proctitis. But yes, the cuffitis makes sense as it is the little bit of rectum left to attach the intestine to. I see him Tuesday. I never went into this thinking "cure". I knew I would never be "normal" and would always have some kind of issue I would struggle with. Like I've said in the past, I'm not bleeding to death and balled up in pain anymore so sometimes I feel guilty even being frustrated with the side effects I do have. In the big picture, they are nothing, but yes, anything that affects quality of life is hard to keep quiet about. I guess we'll go forward with a game plan depending on what the biopsies show. Best of luck to you and finding a good solution.
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